A very modest chapel and hall, of no particular architectural or historic interest but located in a conservation area.

In 1964 land was bought in Lower Green Road and a hall built adjacent to a Victorian house, which became the presbytery in 1965 when the Pembury & Paddock Wood Mission was established. In the same year a small chapel was opened in the presbytery. In 1977 Pembury & Paddock Wood became a parish. In 1978 the presbytery at Pembury was sold and the parish priest moved into the presbytery at Paddock Wood, the parish becoming Paddock Wood & Pembury, the former now the dominant site. Pembury was without a chapel for two years until 1980 when a tiny chapel was added to the existing hall, dedicated to St Anselm and designed by T. Houliham & Associates.

Description

The church hall is the dominant building on the site and is a typically utilitarian 1960s structure. The little chapel is set at right-angles, forming an L and with a folding screen between the two. Next to the chapel, and constructed at the same time, are a store, office and lobby giving separate access. The chapel is built of brick to match the hall and has a monopitch roof, which pitches down from the altar. There are no windows but the chapel is lit from a rooflight which runs across its width above the altar. The walls inside are finished in fair-faced brick and the altar slab is built into the wall, interrupting a pair of brick pilasters. The furnishings are generally from elsewhere and mention may be made of the tabernacle, built into the wall, which has a bejewelled brass door.

Heritage Details